USA : Hollywood - I'll mace your face.

After a short drive from San Diego to LA we spent another evening motel hunting.
Susie would park up the car while Jan would run inside and was regularly asked how many hours she would like in the motel room! Ugh! That was usually a sign to get out of the neighbourhood quick.

Through a sat Nav programming error we accidentally ended up in a cheap motel with secure parking right on Hollywood Boulevard. We later found out that it was in fact the motel from Pretty Woman where the iconic scene at the end of the film where Julia Roberts and Richard Gere kiss was shot.
This claim to fame  still didn't stop the motel from being a total dive!

Our prime location meant that the next morning we rolled out of bed on to the Hollywood walk of fame, with coffee in hand we star spotted our way down the street, trying to avoid the scaffoldig being set up for the upcoming Oscars!

 

We were on a tourist rampage, our next destination being the Hollywood sign where we took a brisk walk up the lookout to snap some pictures of the Hollywood skyline. Pushing on we headed for the La Brea tar pools, Rodeo Drive and scored some free tickets to the LAMCA (Los Angeles museum of contemporary art).

After all of that excitement, it was time to go and use our remaining energy to SHOOT GUNS!

The LA gun club was our first experience of ever holding a gun, we chose the most medically accurate target labelling all vital organs and preceded to aim for the ventricles and cerebellum, a special point was up for grabs if one of us claimed the gall bladder!

Susie missed by mere millimetres, but overall it has to be said, we were surprisingly hot shit at shooting guns! The kindly members of staff took us under their wing and made sure we didn't injur ourselves or any innocent bystanders.

After a mad adrenaline come down we retreated back to the motel and passesdout.

There is still so much to discover when we return to LA before our departure to Fiji where we will be hitting Venice Beach, Santa Monica and LA Ink.

Peace and Love,
Jan and Susie.

USA : The Conspiracy Theory : Santa Barbara to San Diego.

We arrived late to meet our next couch surfer in Ventura after a long and tiresome drive. Both shattered and sleep deprived we grabbed a quick bite to eat before hitting the sack for some well needed and deserved rest.

Our first morning in Ventura saw us Sea Kayaking in the harbour with an array of wildlife to see. We came as close to wild dolphins as is possible as they blew their spout a mere 5 meteres from the side of our kayak. Pelicans flew above, skimming and diving into the water whilst one far and distant Sea Lion sunned himself on a buoy too far for us to reach. From here we took a ride north to Goleta where we planned to cycle to Santa Barbara.... or so we intended.

The bike ride took us along the coastal cycle path and across the highway where we rested at the half way point of our 12 mile cycle at yet another American fast food destination named Habit. It was here we had the pleasure of meeting Matt, a Santa Barbara resident who informed us we were approximately 6 miles from our end desitination. With sore bottoms and weary eyes we were able to convince Matt to chuck our bikes on the top of his People Carrier and drop us off at the finish line. This is possibly the laziest thing either of us have ever done. The car ride was a pleasure as we laughed and joked about our English cheek and Matts American humour. We shared stories of our adventures and discovered that Matt was quite the traveller also. This guy was an absolute joy to meet :)

Whilst at the beach in Santa Barbara, we were distracted by a chap who aptly called himself 'Solar Bryan' we took up a spot next to him on the sand, mesmerised by his ability to use a magnifying glass and the sun to make the most beautiful and intricate of pictures by focusing the heat on to pieces of drift wood.

All in all Ventura provided us with a good bit of nature seeing and we hope to visit Santa Barbara again in the not too distant future for beverages on the pier and perhaps to visit Matt and hear more of his own travel tales.

We left Ventura on Friday morning bright and early to avoid Presidents Day weekend traffic and make it in good time to meet our next host, Wendy, a friend of a friend who kindly had agreed to allow two strangers in to her house and provided us with a welcoming place to rest our heads. We went for a walk to the pier with Wendy and hit the old traditional 50's style diner called Ruby's for giant burgers and peanut butter milkshakes before heading to the Californian Coffee Company for an Irish open mic night, enjoyed next to the bonfires with a herbal tea in hand.

We had a great time with Wendy and Chris talking late in to the night about all sorts of things.
We went to Old Town San Diego the following day and strolled around the aged Mexican style shops looking at the overpriced trinketries, the weather was warm and very shortly we were all reaching for the spf 70. Chris cooked us a traditional Irish dinner, a welcome respite from the relentless consuming of burgers and the dreaded 'high fructose corn syrup'. In America, Cola without corn syrup in is labelled 'throwback' cola.

After a lovely weekend in San Diego feeling very safe and cared for we headed up to LA - the city of Angels.

Love,

Jan and Sooz.

USA : Gravity Will Get You : Yosemite to Big Sur.

On the morning of our departure from Jimmy's in San Francisco we noticed an ominous knocking from the front of the Chevvy. After a few panicky phone calls and a haphazard exchange we breezed off to Yosemite in our new (and decidedly less economical) Crysler 200 bad ass upgrade.

Arriving late in to Yosemite we were totally exhausted from the endless winding roads we headed straight for the enormous stainless steel hot tub at the Bug Hostel and sweated out some toxins in the sauna before tucking in to a big juicy pulled pork delight.
The social area at the hostel was based in a big log cabin with an open fire, mountains of board games and comfy sofas. The evenings at Yosemite were spent curled up here chatting, practicing our skills in Henna design and reading. It was here at the hostel that we met Aussie Dan who was to make the duo a trio for the next couple of days and fill the role of protector and adventuror.
Dan came from Brisbane and like us had left his job in search of greener pastures on the other side of the world. He was a good member of the team and spent a good part of the time cutting us down with his dry sense of humour.

We took a big hike to the upper yosmite falls and saw the views of this awesome natonional park from all of the best vantage points. There was still snow on the ground but the sun was shining brightly, perfect weather for a hard uphill walk. By the end of the day we had done in our quads, glutes and we sporting some very sore feet.

The trio departed after gorging on big greasy breakfast burritos and made for Monterey Bay where we managed to catch a beatiful coastal walk and a sunset over the tide pools.

Along Big Sur the scenery became more lush and the craggy cliffs aside the highway led to seeminly infinite blue seas and mellow waves. The coastline along California is so different to that in Oregon where the sneaker waves, huge breakers and tsunami warning signs made a swim much less appealing.

At Pfeiffer national park we walked the trail to the waterfall and also to the valley view point, basking in the sun and enjoying our last jaunt with Dan before he headed North.

We continued on to our next couch surfing host in Ventura, 5 hours drive away, now we were truly heading down in to the heart of California.

USA : San Francisco : "Welcome to Broadway"

Our first day in San Francisco was filled with touristy delights. 

We began the day with glorious sunshine and blue skies.We caught a ferry across to Alcatraz State penetentiary where we differed in our cultural perspectives as I remarked on the history of the Native American occupation in the 1960's, Susie was Nic Cage spotting : "Nic Cage stood here and over there and up there and hid under there... Nic Cage is SO hot.' We saw the infamous walkway from 'The Rock' known as Broadway and listened to an audio tour of the harrowing history of Alcatraz and marvelled at the ingenious escapes plotted by the prisoners. 

 

After desperately attempting to avoid walking up any of the 46 San Franciscan hills we finally conceded defeat and headed up Vellaggio Hill to Coit tower, huffing, puffing and moaning all the way to the best view in town. The iconic Trollies bustled up alongside us as we whined about them being inappropriately expensive at $6 for a short journey upward. 

 

The next stop on our scenic itinerary was the infamous Golden Gate Bridge, we arrived just in time to catch the sunset over the bay and took the opportunity to take multiple shots from every angle imaginable. 

 

Day 2 saw yet more unexpected sunshine and cloudless skies, we took the opportunity to see Golden Gate Park and have a leisurely stroll around the grounds. We gawked at the unbelievable entrance fees to the Museum and Science centre, San Francisco is not a cheap city for tourists, nor the people who live there as suggested by the vast numbers of homeless people we saw on our travels. The park led us on to Haight street and the Mission area for quirky shopping at the Goodwill Store, unplanned nose piercings, huge Burritos and a chance encounter at the Red Vic Hotel with Kate, the receptionist who invited us to an 'Artists' live-in Warehouse for a show/party that evening. This Southerly part of the city was bustling and alive, if time had allowed we would have loved a couple more days to check out this weird and wonderful area. 

 

We glammed up in our thrift store fineries, shared a little tipple with the Jewish comedian at the hostel and paid a visit to the aforementioned party. After a swift hello,goodbye and some cheap plonk we made our escape from the 'arty' crowd to the bars on South Market area. 

 

Somewhere between the party and the first bar we were adopted by a couple of friendly locals, a Nic Cage look alike and The Mexican a.k.a. Julian and Josh. They kindly gave us a mascot for our vehicle in the form of a gold encrusted scorpion paperweight. Our 11pm curfew gradually crept further and further back whiling away the evening with laughter and sarcastic banter, perfecting the 'Mace-Knife dance'  our challenging method of protection akin to patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time : Spray, stab, spray, stab and repeat. 

 

San Francisco was a wild city, thriving with life and culture, a more raw and edgy counterpart to the cities we've experienced so far.

Definitely a must for any traveller seeking the West Coast experience. 

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz. 

USA : Goonies Never Say Die.

'The journey not the arrival matters'

T.S. Eliot.

As we bid farewell to our newfound friends in Portland we journeyed on toward Astoria, home of the Goonies and the start of our coastal drive. At the peninsula of Fort Stevens we had our first encounter with the rough and rugged coastline of Oregon, excitedly spotting seals and a hungry raccoon. Our countryside jaunts led us to experience a true 'deer caught in the headlights' moment as we swerved high speed to narrowly avoid hitting two rogue deer in our path - rest assured all parties, deer, car and ourselves, remained unscathed, although a little shaken. Praise The Lord for Traction control.

After resting our heads in a cheap motel and gorging on steak and baby back ribs in Pig N Pancake, est. 1961 in Seaside Town and offering a massive 35 different types of breakfast,we were ready to commence the next leg of our highway 101 road trip. On that first day we saw rocky Cannon Beach, idyllic and quaint Manzinita and experienced the saddest most sterile tour around the Tillamook cheese factory, although we didn't turn our nose up at the free cheese samples, especially the squeaky curd... Filthy.

We welcomed refreshment at the Pelican Brewhouse in Pacific city where the bartender concocted us a ginger beer : coke, lemonade and angastora bitters which helped to wash down Steve 'the Oyster Mans' locally farmed catch which we had slurped, slimy and raw, in his front yard.
We raced the through Lincoln city to our destination in Newport - Econolodge.

Sagely advice was offered from our Hawaiian friend in the pizza restaurant pver dinner, which went a little something like this 'you girls be careful, you gotta watch each others back, when you get out of the car you gotta look at everyones face and say hey you, you and you I'm lookin' at you, I see you.'
He gave us a free T-shirt and we left carrying a hefty dose of paranoia.

The second day of our road trip took us to Seal Rock, here we observed three wild seals swimming in tide pools, temporarily isolated by the receding tide. We found this fascinating until we discovered just a couple of miles down the road we could spend a few bucks to see 250 seals in their natural habitat, rolling around and stinking the place to the ground. With every incoming wave we were hit with the stench of rotting fish. It was an absolutely phenomenal sight nonetheless. Dune city offered us the opportunity to see enormous sand dunes that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Loathe to stay in another generic motel we opted to go with Air B&B at Myrtle Point Farm.
Being miles from the nearest civilisation we were naturally rather apprehensive, however we were greeted with a warm welcome from Leena and David who gave us dinner from their home grown produce and wine which they'd brewed themselves. We stayed up late chatting and the following day helped around the farm weeding in preparation for the spring bloom. We saw lovely lamas and two heavily pregnant goats who gave birth not long after we'd left.

With grubby nails and a stash of farm pickles we drove determinedly to our next destination; Eureka. It could be said that this part of the journey was the HIGHWAY TO HELL, as ACDC so excellently put it. It was dark and cold, we were desperate for a place to stay and our budget was tight; then we stumbled upon Christies, which should be more aptly known as Christies Crack Den. The following morning as we were about to leave we were accosted by a couple of Federal Bounty Hunters who presented us with a picture and asked if we had seen 'this woman' overnight who was wanted for serious drug offences and robbery. Needless to say we bolted, unfortunately this happened to be the wrong way down a one way street.

Our final day on the road was one of much driving as we covered the best part of 300 miles from Eureka to San Francisco on tortuous winding roads. Driving over the illuminated Golden Gate Bridge was a warm welcome to the city and we happily rested our weary heads at Jimmys Hostel in the marina district.

Special thanks to Ross one of our last hosts, his great tunes provided us with such lyrical genius as the Beatles, Seasick Steve, Sigur Ros, Jeff Buckley and Atmosphere all the way down the coast.

A journey to remember.

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz.

USA : Portland - Adult Playground.

The two week mark of our journey has now been reached; the usual time at which a holiday would end is just the beginning of the adventure for us and we're so pleased not to have to go home just yet!

This week was spent touring Portland and Orgeon state.
Some time ago The Guardian made reference to Portland as one of the top five places in the world to live, and having seen the delights on offer we have a good idea why!
Unfortunately our lack of transferable skills and absence of working visa have prohibited us from renting the nearest quirky, brightly coloured, picket fenced house available and setting up a shop selling sustainable, organic, home brewed coffee.

Our First day in Portland was spent drinking coffee and chowing down on Monkey Bread at Powells, the infamous local bookstore, where a kindly group of retired gentleman, Bruce, Joe and Jim, helped us scout out the best things to do whilst in Oregon. We were recommended a scenic road trip East along Highway 84  with a detour on to the old Highway I-30, following the Columbia river.

A chance Google search led us to The Columbia Gorge Riverside Cabins, where we couldn't resist spending a night philosophising in the hot tub on the very edge of the river.
It was awe-inspiringly beautiful.

Amongst the spectacular sights we saw were the Bridge of the Gods, Multnomah falls, a 600ft high waterfall and the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery.
Special mention to be paid to the fish-counter extraordinaire, who taught us more than we could ever have imagined was possible to know about salmon.

After meeting Maegan and Shaun, a friendly young couple born and raised in Oregan, in a bar on our first night in Portland, they kindly offered us a room to stay in their home located in the trendy Hawthorne  district. We gladly accepted their offer and ventured out for a locally brewed beverage at Circa 33 followed by a visit to the Nickel arcade for shoot 'em ups and motorbike racing!

Portland is a city of food, booze and high fructose corn syrup.
The culinary choices are endless, some exciting examples we experienced were the Voodoo doughnuts bacon and maple bar, Slappy Cakes peanut butter, bacon and maple make-it-yourself pancakes, French toast with bacon, cheese and maple syrup... There's a recurring theme here.
The brightly coloured, multiples of food carts are an awesome phenomenon which are a must to eat at when visiting Portland. Our $6 deep fried pork burritos could have fed at least 3 people!

Maegan and Shaun's housemates, Ross and Jenene took us for a whirlwind tour of Portland town centre. They revealed to us that they worked at the Heathman hotel, the famous location for Anna and Christian Gray's first kiss in elevator 3. We had a tour of the penthouse suite in which Lady GaGa, Harrison Ford and Jennifer Anniston had all stayed.
After clearing out the hotel of all available Fifty Shades related memorabilia including Mugs and Do Not Disturb signs we headed over to quirky 23rd street for a stroll around the technicolor boutique shops.

We ended our stay in Portland with a visit to Edgefield, a converted 'poor house'/care home which is now a whimsical Wonderland of murals, a steam pool, spa, bars, bonfires, a distillery and winery where we giddily skipped out way about the grounds.

Once again we find ourselves dumbstruck by the generosity of our four hosts that really have made Portland a once in a lifetime experience.

Thanks guy!

Susie and Jan.